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January 6th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda Here are some of the latest health and medical news developments,
compiled by the editors of HealthDay:
Most U.S. Hospital Errors
Unreported
Only one in seven errors, accidents or other events that cause harm to
Medicare patients in U.S. hospitals are recognized and reported by
hospital employees, says a federal government report being released
Friday.
And even after hospitals investigate reported cases of preventable
injuries and infections, few changes in policies or practices are made to
prevent such problems from occurring again, according to the study from
Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel R.
Levinson, The New York Times reported.
In many cases, hospital officials told federal investigators that the
incidents of patient harm did not reveal any “systemic quality problems.”
But many hospital administrators did acknowledge that employees
underreport such incidents.
The inspector general’s report included an in-depth review of 293 cases
of harm suffered by Medicare patients while in hospital. Forty of the
cases were reported to hospital managers and 28 were investigated by the
hospitals, but only five led to changes in policies or practices, The
Times reported.
Many unreported events were identified by independent doctors who
reviewed patients’ records at the request of the federal
investigators.
More than 130,000 Medicare beneficiaries experienced one or more
adverse events in hospitals in a single month, according to the study.
Adverse events include severe bedsores, medication errors,
hospital-acquired infections, delirium caused by overuse of painkillers,
and excessive bleeding caused by improper use of blood thinners, The
Times reported.
As a condition of being paid under Medicare, hospitals must “track
medical errors and adverse patient events, analyze their causes,” and
improve care, Levinson said in the report. He noted that nearly all
hospitals have some type of system for employees to inform managers about
adverse events in patients.
However, hospital employees often do not recognize “what constitutes
patient harm” or don’t realize that specific events caused patient harm
and should be reported, Levinson said. He added that employees may assume
that someone else will report the incident, that the problem was so common
that it didn’t need to be reported, or that the event was rare and
unlikely to recur, The Times reported.
To reduce confusion, Medicare officials said they’ll create a list of
“reportable events” for hospitals and their employees, and also said that
hospitals should provide employees with “detailed, unambiguous
instructions on the types of events that should be reported.”
—–
U.S. Proposes New Rules for Face, Hand
Transplants
Proposed new rules for transplants of faces, hands and certain other
body parts have been introduced by the U.S. government agency that
oversees organ transplants.
The Health Resources Services Administration wants tighter regulation
of transplants of feet, ankles, legs, fingers, windpipes, voice boxes, the
abdominal wall and possibly even a penis or uterus, the Associated
Press reported.
Currently, waiting lists for these body parts are informal and
local.
“These body parts are starting to become more mainstream, if you will,
than they were five or 10 years ago when they were first pioneered in this
country,” said Dr. James Bowman, medical director of the Health Resources
Services Administration, the AP reported.
The new regulations will make transplants of these body parts part of
the nationwide system operated by the United Network For Organ
Sharing.
Public comments on the proposed new rules will be accepted until Feb.
14. The rules are expected to take effect later this year or early next
year, the AP reported.
—–
Questions Raised About FDA‘s Breast Implant
Safety Review
Last year’s U.S. Food and Drug Administration review that said silicone
breast implants are safe is being challenged by consumer safety
advocates.
The FDA concluded that silicone-gel implants are essentially safe as
long as women understand that the implants come with complications. The
agency noted that one in five women who get implants for breast
enhancement will need to have the implants replaced within five years, the
Associated Press reported.
But a letter issued by the National Research Center for Women and
Families wants the FDA to explain incomplete and seemingly erroneous data
used to support the finding that the implants are safe.
The group asks why the FDA did not present information showing that
women experienced reduced levels of emotional, mental and physical
well-being after receiving the breast implants, the AP
reported.
The letter also outlines concerns about implant manufacturers’ figures
that seem to show implant complications declining over time.
—–
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